Greg+JohnsonLBF

**Exective Summary**
This paper is a summary of what makes learning interesting as opposed to boring. Each person took an online survey requesting that they describe the components of both a boring and interesting learning experience. Afterwards, they were to ask up to three other persons to take the same online survey. The results of the survey show that 233 people took the survey, 58.7% were males while 41.3% were female, 70.2% had completed their undergraduate degree or beyond. The results of this survey are skewed pretty heavily towards college graduates or those involved in post-graduate studies.

**What makes a learning experience boring?**

 * 1. When the instructor relies heavily on his or her audience listening to what is being said, the tone of the speaker is often non-expressive or monotone.**

Often times, the survey results indicated that the material the learners listened to was uninteresting because they were listening to a non-expressive speaker. Scientist said, “The instructor was an Indian man with a monotone voice and an accent so heavy that it was nearly impossibly to decipher what he was saying.” Another responded, White Mike said, “The instructor didn't command your attention.” Obviously if the primary modality of learning that is expected is through listening, then the audible material should be made interesting. Many other respondents said there were too many other distractions in the room for effective learning to take place. I believe that people are quite capable of filtering out distractions when they are less interesting than the speaker in the room. So, the tone of the person who is delivering the material is definitely a possible pitfall to an engaging lesson.


 * 2. Another primary factor in a boring lesson, or learning experience, is a heavy expectation of the audience to sit still.**

Seventy-five percent of the boring experiences required the learners to sit still. Only fifteen percent of learners were expected to sit still during an interesting learning experience. The expectation to sit still is difficult to accept by a group of learners or audience when there are few other expectations placed upon them. In the overall report, only listening, watching, and remembering were a significant part of the experiences rated as boring. Nothing much else was expected from the learners.


 * 3. A lack of interesting environment is also a prime factor of a boring lesson.**

According to imax: “Specifically the room looked like a prison. There was nothing on the walls nothing exciting and like i said before he had an extremely monotone voice which made everything seem doubly boring.” As with listening, watching is the other dominant modality mentioned in both the boring and interesting experiences. The learning environment should be pleasing to the eye, but not distracting from the material or information.


 * 4. Repetitive tasks or work become boring over time.**

Anything novel to a learner has the possibility of being interesting. This can last as long as it takes the learner to master the new task or skill, or it could not last even that long if the learner is not interested in or motivated to learn the task or skill. TinkyTina writes, “This experience was boring to me because we dont do anything new in the morning and we keep doing the same routine.” Finding new ways to achieve the same outcome might be a good alternative to the same old same old in a day-to-day manner. There are plenty of other opportunities for these kinds of activities in our lives; keeping them alive in learning situations is not necessary.


 * 5. Few expectations on learners makes for a boring experience.**

The total percentage points for the entire range of expectations in the boring learning experience section is 378.5%. Of that total, 305.8% comes from the following 4 categories: Listening, Watching, Sitting Still, and Remembering. Eighty percent of the boring learning experiences were derived from these four factors. These learning expectations are low-level tasks, to boot. So, I conclude that not engaging learners with many (what we might consider too many) expectations or learning behaviors can lead to boring lessons.

**What makes a learning experience interesting?**

 * 1. A comfortable environment is conducive to a positive learning experience.**

The temptation to get up out of one’s seat, wiggle around, or simply focus on how physically uncomfortable one is can be very distracting from a learning experience. Sitting too close or too far away from peers or the instructor can be distracting as well. Many of the comments of the positive learning experiences related to a relaxed, comfortable room. Miss Swan writes, “Because I like to learn in relaxing environment.” When people are not concerned with their environment in a negative way, they can better focus on the task at hand.


 * 2. Interaction makes learning enjoyable.**

Of the eleven categories that were rated on the expectations scale, three of them involve some sort of interaction: Interact with other Learners, Interact with the Instructor, and Interact with some Artifact or Technology. Even the ‘Perform or Present’ category suggests some kind of interaction of the learners with each other. This is huge motivator in the world of interesting learning. Craig Laig said, “The experience was hands-on, and it was multi-layered. We learned about the ship and the time period in a unique way (not books, or even videos -- it was like being in a video).”


 * 3. Learning that seems useful or practical is interesting.**

Della wrote, “The instructor wasn't my favorite so it had to have been the immediate use of what we learned. Even though the subject was kind of nasty, it was cool to learn something and immediately draw from what we had learned and use the knowledge in a practical way.” Apparently, Della was not very interested in the instructor, or the subject matter. But, her positive learning experience came from using her newfound knowledge in a practical way. Practicality is a heavy motivator, indeed.


 * 4. Challenging learners engages them.**

Of the experiences that were positive for respondents, greater than sixty percent of them were expected to think critically and creatively. These are not easy tasks to do, mostly because people are infrequently asked to do them. Kyle N. writes, “In my junior American Literature class, we were expected to write a narrative based upon a selected piece of famous art. We were to study every aspect of the painting and then create a story around it. We were allowed to pick the painting we wanted from a selection and we were allowed to work with a partner.” A pre-selected piece of art can be uninteresting to many people, but when the element of personal creativity was added to the lesson, it became interesting. (The added interaction in this activity can be aligned with number two above….)


 * 5. Rigorous expectations of learners make them enjoy learning more.**

On the chart showing interesting learning experiences, ten of the eleven categories had a significant percentage of ‘definitely expected’ responses. The column totals 688.4%. Of this total, the 4 categories: Listening, Watching, Sitting Still, and Remembering account for 259.2 total percentage points. This accounts for 37.6% of the total expected behaviors of the interesting lessons. A far lower number than that of boring lessons (80%).


 * Implications**

I definitely will consider the results of this survey when not only devising my own instructional material, but when I am using or reviewing instructional material designed by others. The successful learning experience involves much more than the instructor delivering information to an audience of learners. The heavy use of interaction among learners with each other as well as with the instructor and manipulatives pertaining to the lesson at hand play a significant role in learning success. If the learner is to be engaged, then many multi-modal expectations are to accompany the lesson or material presented.